Where Liberalism Is Alive and Well!

While the smug panel of Morning Joe on MSNBC laughed along, including the faux Democrat Harold Ford Jr., Mark Halperin called the President of the United States a dick. I just wrote Time magazine at letters@time.com to register my complaint and demand a formal apology. His lack of respect for our president has been apparent for a long time but this crossed a line. Do your part and let Time magazine and MSNBC know how you feel about such an utter lack of respect for our elected president.

UPDATE: (Sorry for the late update, I was helping with set up for an Art Fair all day)

As I’m sure most of you know, Mark Halperin was suspended from MSNBC for an indefinite period, whatever that means. Here is MSNBC’s statement followed by Mark Halperin’s. (bold line cracked me up)

“Mark Halperin’s comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable. We apologize to the President, The White House and all of our viewers. We strive for a high level of discourse and comments like these have no place on our air. Therefore, Mark will be suspended indefinitely from his role as an analyst.”

Halperin:

“I completely agree with everything in MSNBC’s statement about my remark. I believe that the step they are taking in response is totally appropriate. Again, I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the President, to my MSNBC colleagues, and to the viewers. My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it.”

Personally, I was calling for an apology because I think it was warranted. I tend to think that MSNBC overreacted, to be honest. Because I’ve seen much worse on that morning show that pretends to be some sort of round table…Joe just loves the phrase “around this table” as if the people around that table represent every diverse opinion there is. But compared to this crap from Dylan Ratigan, what Halperin said paled in comparison. Don’t get me wrong, what Halperin said was despicable, but that entire show is despicable and it should really be cancelled and replaced with something more balanced – with strong voices on both sides of political issues. There is a market for it. I’m a political junkie and love waking up to political talk, but not such a blatant propaganda machine laced with subtle racism, sexism, and a fake air of being balanced. It just pissed me off. I’m becoming fond of CNN’s morning show because at least they still attempt to have an air of impartiality and adhere to some journalistic standards. But it is a news show, not just politics, so I also have to see all the other crap that I don’t care much about.

I do hope that this event will make people stop and look at the state of media in America. I’m a hard core liberal, but I value other people’s right to their opinion, even though I may want to change it.

Glenn Greenwald has been pushing the idea that President Obama has been waging an “unprecedented war on whistleblowers.” Yesterday on Twitter, he was fawning over a Jane Mayer magazine article on the subject. I see this as a perfect example of the rabidness of Greenwald and how simple his mind is.

To start with, the Justice department under President Obama has returned to the way it used to be, prior to the Bush years where it was micro-managed by the White House and Karl Rove. Career, honorable lawyers are back at the Justice department. I really don’t think President Obama is calling Eric Holder every morning to get details on every single fucking case in front of the Justice department and picking and choosing who to prosecute. Yet, every time Greenwald mentions any prosecutions, he HAS to directly blame President Obama. Maybe he’s just confused about what job Barack Obama has. Here is one example of how Glenn plays his game, because you know President Obama is so much like Dick Cheney, cough, spit, choke…this starts with a quote from James Risen and then Glenn injects his craziness…

Risen: I was told by a reliable source that Vice President Dick Cheney pressured the Justice Department to personally target me because he was unhappy with my reporting and wanted to see me in jail.

Greenwald: As it has in so many other instances, the Obama administration appears on the verge of fulfilling Dick Cheney’s nefarious wish beyond what even Cheney could achieve.

I guess in Glenn’s simple brain, Eric Holder should have dropped any cases started in the previous administration, just wipe the slate clean. Glenn really can’t be that fucking stupid, can he? He uses whatever he can to attack President Obama directly, taking every action of every person in his administration and blaming the President for it. Could it be that because of 8 years of Bush’s appointing of completely incompetent, agenda driven trolls, that maybe that has something to do with more leaking of atrocities perpetuated by the previous administration and thus more prosecutions? Could it be that more people are leaking than ever before? Could it be that with thumb drives being a dime a dozen and easily tucked in your pocket, that maybe it is easier for people to copy information and then distribute it with a click of a button on the computer? And could it be that in our information age where people have much greater access to information, that maybe that has something to do with the amount of leaks that have occurred.

One person’s leak is another person’s whistleblowing. Who gets to decide which is which? Is it Glenn Greenwald? Maybe the President should just check with Glenn every time someone is caught leaking information from our government. Or maybe we should just stop prosecuting all leakers, making our government secrets available to all, come one, come all. On the face, Glenn Greenwald and Jane Mayer’s assertion and assigning of motives to President Obama is completely naive to the way our system works. When a law is broken, the justice department investigates. They gather information and determine if they have a case and whether the law applies. It’s kind of like their job. If the Justice department didn’t pursue cases against leaks (whether they fit the whistleblowing criteria or not) they would be derelict in their duties. Since when does the justice department not prosecute people who have broken the law, even when they may have revealed horrible atrocities and like I said, who gets to decide what is a leak and what is a whistle being blown? Maybe Glenn can provide a service to the government and pick and chose which ones he thinks should be prosecuted, since I’m sure he is privy to all the evidence that Eric Holder and his dedicated team of prosecutors have access to. I’m sure Glenn, because he practiced law for sooooo long and was sooooo successful, is better able to make those determinations than these respected, accomplished lawyers in the Justice department.

Glenn Greenwald has an agenda and will use whatever he can get his hands on and twist it, exaggerate it, lie about it and assign motives to that bad man in the White House whenever anyone in his administration does anything that Glenn thinks can be used to attack. The man has some serious issues and I’m glad I’m not the only one who sees it. The curtain is being pulled back on you Glenn.

From Steve Benen at The Washington Monthly, go read the whole thing, but these last couple of paragraphs were simply golden.

Republicans said a payroll tax cut would help create jobs, and now they’re opposed to their own idea. Republicans said the Economic Development Administration is great for the economy, and now they’re opposed to that, too. Republicans have traditionally supported infrastructure investment, but the “infrastructure bank” idea appears likely to be killed by the GOP. Many Republicans endorsed the TANF Emergency Fund last year as an incredibly effective method of lowering unemployment, and the congressional GOP killed that, too.

Republicans are blocking qualified Treasury Department nominees who could also be working on economic policy. Republicans are blocking qualified Federal Reserve nominees who could also help improve the economy, while demanding that the Fed do nothing to promote economic activity. The GOP is demanding that Congress and the White House agree to immediately take money out of the economy and eliminate public-sector jobs, even when conservative economists say that’s crazy. What’s more, these same Republican officials have made it abundantly clear that failure to give them the cuts they want would force them to crash the economy on purpose.

And it’s against this backdrop that one of the most powerful Republican officials on Capitol Hill has argued, more than once, that his “top priority” isn’t job creation, but rather, “denying President Obama a second term in office.”

I started writing a post this morning and realized that my head wasn’t really in it. This is the time of the year that I volunteer for a local festival, Muskegon Summer Celebration, and for the most part, it is my vacation every year. I started out as a committee member 14 years ago and soon became the director for the Arts and Crafts Fair and then a few years ago, the site director for the entire festival. I’ve since cut back to being a committee member again, helping out where I started, at the Art Fair. It is an awesome festival that has fallen on hard times in recent years because of the struggling economy in Michigan, but this year several local organizations stepped up to help put it on again. Over 1500 volunteers help put on this festival and it brings people into our city from all over the state.

I’ve decided that I’m going to take a bit of a break from blogging for the next week, I won’t completely stop, but I will more than likely just share links to stories that I’ve read that I think you may enjoy. I can’t stop reading about politics, I’m a junkie, but I am going to take a break from writing so much about it for the next week. If something comes up and I can’t help myself, you may see a rant or two from me. I’ve tried to recruit a couple people to be guest bloggers, but haven’t had any luck with it, they know who they are. :) So since I am the lone writer, I have to give myself some downtime.

My mood of late has been bouncing around when it comes to politics. With MSNBC seeming to go full anti-Obama, trying to appeal to Fox New viewers apparently, I am a bit down about that. I have stopped watching them completely at this point and have used some of that extra time to write the sponsors of Rachel Maddow’s show, Lawrence O’Donnell’s show and MSNBC executives directly. It would be nice if there was fair treatment of our President from at least the one network that claims to be left leaning (the nighttime opinion shows) and I wish they would at least attempt to balance out their reporting and opinions. Instead, we’ve been subjected to a lot of one-sided bashing from a group of faux left bloggers and pundits. I tweeted this yesterday that sums up how I currently feel about MSNBC…

As far as my mood about the election in 2012, I am still very optimistic and have confidence that by November 6, 2012, Democrats will have the momentum and will sweep out a lot of Republicans and could very well take back the House of Representatives. There will be a backlash to the craziness that has been happening since the village idiots have gained power. I’m very anxious for the Obama campaign to get in gear and start fighting back against the many attacks from the GOP, the media, the “professional critics” and every other selfish, click grubbing asshat who thinks our democracy is a fucking game and people’s lives are the dice. It’s going to take a lot of work to counter all that bullshit, but I learned in 2007-2008 not to underestimate the abilities of the Davids, Plouffe and Axelrod or the abilities of our most awesome president. I’m storing up links and quotes from the asshats to throw back in their petty, selfish little faces in a year and a half.

But really, we all need to get involved and help. I’ve donated money already to President Obama and will give a lot more in the next year and a half. I consider it an investment on the future. I’m also tossing around many ideas in my head on how to counter the organized effort by some who claim to be on the left against our President. They are so small minded, it really shouldn’t be hard to take them out, if it is done before they get too much traction. I’m afraid a lot of my fellow bloggers aren’t willing to go too far out of their way to help, though. But I’m determined to do my part, regardless of whether they help or not.

I’m not abandoning the blog by any means, so please keep coming back. And if any of you awesome readers want to take a stab at writing a post or two, email me at liberalforreal@gmail.com. I am willing to edit for you, if need be.

I’m all for young people getting involved in politics, but the downside to it is the utter lack of historical perspective and understanding of the way our government functions. I remember being that way when I was younger, but I learned quickly because of my very wise mother and my intense curiosity. Even brilliant people like Rachel Maddow fall into that rut and then have trouble getting themselves out of it. She is the one who has elevated the latest MSNBC “Balloon Boy” Lt. Daniel Choi to a position where he gets to spout his half truths, hyperbole and ignorance for the world to see. I was going to write about Choi, but instead I will steer you to others who have covered what I think about it very well. Here, here and here.

Instead, I want to rant about the broader issue of who gets to be the pundits on our televisions and in our major publications. A while back, Ezra Klein, one of the young guns in the media, 27 years old as I type, penned a very snarky response to a Ben Bernanke speech with an arrogance that made me wonder how someone of those tender years felt he had the authority to talk down to Mr. Bernanke. Ezra is certainly very smart and a great writer, but that doesn’t necessarily make him qualified to speak on all issues. I tweeted this when Klein penned this post “What Bernanke Should Have Said”…

That tweet pretty much sums up how I feel about that one. Don’t get my wrong, I like Ezra and think he did great work during the health care debate. He is very smart when it comes to politics and unlike a lot of the younger pundits, he has a much greater understanding of the politics of Washington. He was a pol-sci major after all. But no matter how bright he is, I don’t know how much time he has really spent on economics policy. I tend to think Ben Bernanke has a bit more experience and moves in the top circles of economic thinkers.

Even Rachel Maddow exhibits a certain immaturity and she is 38 years old. I’ve said it many times on this blog that Rachel is a national treasure and reports about things that no one else is or will. But that doesn’t mean she is always right or understands the ways of Washington. When you think back about what administrations she has lived through as an adult and it makes more sense. When she was 20 years old, Bill Clinton was president and it was the beginning of the downward spiral of our dysfunctional government, with impeachment hearings, investigations and extreme partisan game playing. Remember Newt Gingrich? So when Rachel Maddow took issue with how President Obama approached the repeal of DADT and kept predicting over and over that it wouldn’t happen, basically calling President Obama a liar, it caused her to have to apologize and admit she was wrong when President Obama signed it. But really, after a year and a half of pounding on the President with Rachel leading the charge, the damage was already done and of course those people who used the issue the most to beat up on our Democratic president couldn’t even give him credit for it. Here is a reminder of one of Rachel’s mea culpas after passage of DADT. Rachel starts at about 1 minute…

To me, this event is a perfect example of how President Obama did what had to be done, politically, to get a permanent repeal of DADT – not an executive order that could be reversed by the next Republican president. I’m pasting a portion of her comments below, in case you can’t watch videos at work and because they spell it out rather well. But remember, this is after having beat up on the president on this issue for a long time, the damage was done at this point.

I think that politically, though, the thing to not lose touch of, to not lose touch with here, this is the President’s victory. The President took a lot of criticism, a lot of abuse, a lot of skepticism from his otherwise most loyal supporters on this. But this is an issue on which the President did not waver. He continually insisted that this was possible. That it would get done.

It, in fact, was not possible for the President to do this through Executive action. This is something that had to happen legislatively if it was really going to happen in a definitive way.

The President did not waver. He DID work on the Senate to get this to happen. He insisted that this was possible against a lot of people, including me, saying it was not possible.

This is a difficult promise kept. It’s not just a promise that was kept. It was one that was hard to keep, that cost a lot of political capital and a lot of work and this is the President’s victory today and his base will reward him for it.

So even thought Rachel was able to see clearly in hindsight, her political immaturity led her to join in on the beating of President Obama and fed into the skepticism. She ended up being about the only critic to give the president credit. The “professional critics” like Hamsher and the gang took credit for it themselves, after all their bullshit. I think it was at that point that I became enraged at that self-serving, money and click grubbing group of asshats.

Now having read all that or watched the Youtube clip, does it surprise anyone that Rachel has turned on the president again and joined with that same chorus of critics with respect to gay marriage. Last week, New York passed and the governor signed a law allowing gay marriage (wooo hooo) and in the process of celebrating and pontificating, Rachel has shown once again that although brilliant, she often goes over the edge. In the midst of celebrating, she couldn’t help but inject this into the mix, which of course is what all the professional Obama critics and MSM picked up on and used to bludgeon the President with this weekend. So, the man who has done more for gay rights than all previous presidents combined, gets attacked on a day of celebration. What in the fuck is wrong with that picture. She couldn’t find one Republican to attack, but instead turns her focus on the President. This is what she said that became the big story.

“President Obama is against what just happened.”

She basically handed the professional critics exactly what they needed to continue their assault on President Obama. And the worse part is she fucking got it wrong again. Mischaracterizing what President Obama said in her very myopic way. Ugh. From a post by TimT at The People’s View entitled “A Great Day for NY LGBTQ Community But Rachel Maddow Is A Effing Liar“…

On a day where we should be embracing and celebrating this decision, for Rachel to make this issue about the President is dumbfounding but what was surprising is that I never knew she is just a FUCKING LIAR!

Transcript:
I would have supported and would continued to support a civil union that provides benefits that are available for a legally sanctioned marriage and then as I said it is up to religious denominations to make a determination as to whether they want to recognize that as marriage or not.

Question: On the ground of civil marriage, can you see to our community where that comes across as sounding like separate but equal?

Obama: When my parents got married in 1960-61, it would have been illegal for them to be married in a number of States in the south. So obviously, this is something I understand intimately and something I care about but i would also say this that if I was advising the civil rights movement back in 1961 about its approach to civil rights, I would have probably said, it is less important that we focus on anti-miscegenation law than focus on voting rights law, a non-discrimination employment law and all the legal rights that are confirmed by the State.

Now, it is not for me to suggest that you should not be troubled by this issues. I understand that and I am sympathetic to it. But, my job as President is going to be to make sure that the legal rights that has consequences on a day to day basis for loving same sex couples are all across the country, those rights are recognized and enforced by my White House and Justice Department.

Something I haven’t heard anyone else say, and I may have just missed it, is that giving the LGBT community the right to marry wouldn’t change much for them when it comes to day to day life. What President Obama has done will have a direct effect on their day to day lives and that is why so many in the LGBT community support President Obama, although they don’t have a cable network to get their support out like Rachel Maddow, Lt. Dan Choi and all the others who want the world to think that President Obama is somehow the enemy. Nothing like being ungrateful. The Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBT rights group, does get it. (emphasis mine)

On LGBT issues, President Obama’s signature achievement has been passage of the law to repeal the odious “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that cost our nation thousands of patriotic Americans willing to put their lives on the line. The president stood up before the country in his State of the Union address and promised he would work with Congress to end DADT. And he delivered. Behind the scenes and in public, he worked with advocates to put together all of the pieces — not the least of which was getting senior military leadership to be repeal’s biggest champions.

It was also President Obama who signed the first federal law explicitly protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people — the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. And when the president read the story of Janice Langbehn, who along with her children was shut out of the emergency room as her partner lay dying of a brain aneurysm, he put his administration into action. Mandating that every hospital receiving Medicaid or Medicare funds adopt new visitation policies, the president’s directive means that nearly every hospital in the country is a significant step closer to treating our families as equals.

So yea, let’s beat up on the guy who has done more for your community than all other presidents combined. What a great fucking idea.

I personally have stopped watching all MSNBC shows for now. The turn that the “Comcastic” cable network has taken in the last year is atrocious, from promoting Donald Trump’s racist brand to employing the likes of Cenk Uygur, Dylan Ratigan and countless pundits such as Jane Hamsher, Adam Green and David Sirota, all political neophytes with chips on their shoulders against our Democratic president. Anyone who says MSNBC is a left leaning cable network is blowing smoke up your ass, and we all know how painful that can be.

UPDATE:From John Cole at Balloon Juice. A very specific example of the political immaturity of a few of the loudest voices in our media. Go over to Balloon Juice to see the writing he is referring to from the immature fainting couch folks. Go John! (emphasis mine)

Who writes this nonsense? Seriously?

Cuomo and the NY politicians were very carefully advancing the issue in a delicate manner, allowing this to be a vote of conscience for the Senators, free from the usual heightened levels of partisan rancor. Things were proceeding nicely, everything pointed to a win for gay rights the next night, and Obama didn’t need to do anything to “lead.” In fact, if Obama had gone up there and delivered what these clowns wanted, and gave a rousing speech claiming he had changed his mind, it would have done nothing but blown up the current negotiations.How many Republicans who were supporting the vote would have backed away, simply because Republicans could not give Obama a “win.” The vote of conscience would be gone, and it would become a partisan battle and the vote would probably have failed.

I swear, it is almost like these idiots don’t understand politics, don’t understand risk and reward, and do not understand strategic thinking. The vote was going to pass- why would Obama do anything to insert himself into the issue and possibly blow things up? Hell, I was worried that just him appearing at the fundraiser would blow things up.

It’s almost like they just want to cheer and feel good about themselves rather than have good legislation pass.

A congressmen from my great state of Michigan, Rep. Sander Levin, penned this opinion piece about why Republicans don’t give a shit about the jobless.

Republicans continue to sabotage the economy for their political gains. They want control again really bad and will go to great lengths. All the more reason why we need everyone helping to fight against them and elect Democrats.

And contrary to all the crappy reporting going on, we are not at war with Libya and President Obama isn’t doing anything different than any other president. But of course, that doesn’t stop people from lying and exaggerating.

There is a town hall meeting this Saturday in Ann Arbor(10:30 am – 12:30 pm) that everyone who cares about democracy in Michigan should be at. Here are some details, courtesy of Eclectablog, the best source for Michigan political news around.

Washtenaw Community Members Host Town Hall to Discuss Emergency Manager Law

Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 25, 2011 – The Washtenaw Community Action Team (WCAT) is hosting a town hall meeting to discuss the statewide initiative to repeal Public Act 4.

The event will take place at the Ann Arbor Community Center, located at 625 N. Main Street, Saturday, June 25th from 10:30am to 12:30pm.

Featured speakers include:

Chris Savage (Blogger, http://eclectablog.com) – MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show picked up Savage’s PA-4 coverage bringing it to national attention.

David Bates, Ypsilanti Public Schools, President of the Board of Education

Background:

Public Act 4 is a new state law that gives controversial powers to emergency managers appointed by the governor to municipalities placed in the receivership of the state.

EM has broad authority to sell public assets, close schools, shred public contracts and agreements, and dissolve governments and remove elected officials.

PA-4 gained national attention when MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show covered the appointment of Emergency Manager Joe Harris to Benton Harbor in mid-April.

The appointment of emergency managers is anticipated in several Washtenaw County municipalities and school districts. On May 3rd, 2011, the City Council of Ypsilanti issued a formal resolution against PA-4

Michigan Forward and a number of statewide coalitions announced an effort to repeal the law on Saturday, June 18th. The Washtenaw County Community Action Team is leading the repeal effort in Washtenaw County.

The Town Hall will provide a forum to educate interested community members and organizations on the implications of the law for Washtenaw County communities, the effort to repeal PA-4, and the opportunity to begin discussing alternatives for Washtenaw County and Michigan communities.

About The Washtenaw Community Action Team (WCAT):

WCAT is a coalition of local unionists, activists, students, workers and community members working together to defend and advocate for working people at the local, state and national level.

I follow Jane Hamsher on Twitter so I can keep an eye on what she is up to in her quest to have monuments built to her and have her worshippers wiping her feet. She is the one leading the charge to primary President Obama, anyone who thinks she isn’t, needs to look into it a little more. Her irrational hatred for President Obama isn’t new, she had it during the primaries in 2008 and has never let it go. My personal theory is that she doesn’t respect President Obama because he is black, brilliant, charismatic and doesn’t give a shit what this person Jane Hamsher thinks. As I’ve tweeted several times, 99.99% of people in polls say “who the fuck is Jane Hamsher?” Unfortunately, the rapidly deteriorating MSNBC likes to trot her out every couple of days to spread her lies, that’s why I feel the need to expose the type of person she is and how she is a parasite on the liberal community and a very petty person.

One of the latest targets for her vitriol is the AARP. Apparently Jane doesn’t approve, in her infinite wisdom, of their ideas about Social Security and has begun one of her lie filled, propaganda campaigns…against the most powerful lobby in the US…nice plan Jane. It all stems from the AARP’s decision to belly up to the bar on the negotiations about Social Security and ideas for saving it. How has Jane been characterizing it?

As AARP Abandons Social Security, Firedoglake Refuses to Give Up the Fight

Why AARP’s Support for Social Security Cuts Matters

AARP has Been Talking for Months About Being Open to Social Security Cuts

Save Social Security, burn your AARP card:

Dear AARP: Enough With the Weasel Words. Will You or Won’t You?

Those tweets included links to blog posts that Jane has written that are just filled with lies and mischaracterizations like the following…

Much of the divergence of opinion hinges on what one makes of AARP’s attempts at damage control. After AARP’s policy director, John Rother, told the Wall Street Journalon Friday that they were open to cutting Social Security benefits, AARP issued a clarification supposedly “denying” that this was true. Or at least that’s how most people interpreted it. “Oh, don’t worry, that was a gaffe. AARP has clarified for the record that it’s not true.”

The Wall Street Journal apparently mischaracterized what was said to them and started this mess that Jane has waded into and shown her ignorance and vile tactics, against senior citizens, no less. The Wall Street Journal piece is behind a wall, but the AARP issued a statement reaffirming their support for Social Security and making clear that they do not support benefit cuts. How does Jane characterize it, “AARP issued a clarification supposedly “denying” that this was true.” Supposedly “denying” it was true? Jane, you ignorant…oh wait. They actually did deny it. Like Richard Pryor said, “Who you gonna believe, me, or your lying eyes?” From the AARP…(emphasis mine)

AARP Has Not Changed Its Position on Social Security

Reaffirms that program must be strengthened to maintain critical benefits

“Let me be clear – AARP is as committed as we’ve ever been to fighting to protect Social Security for today’s seniors and strengthening it for future generations. Contrary to the misleading characterization in a recent media story, AARP has not changed its position on Social Security.

“First, we are currently fighting some proposals in Washington to cut Social Security to reduce a deficit it did not cause. Social Security should not be used as a piggy bank to solve the nation’s deficit. Any changes to this lifeline program should happen in a separate, broader discussion and make retirement more secure for future generations, not less.

[…]

“Second, we have maintained for years – to our members, the media and elected officials – that long term solvency is key to protecting and strengthening Social Security for all generations, and we have urged elected officials in Washington to address the program’s long-term challenges in a way that’s fair for all generations.

“It has long been AARP’s policy that Social Security should be strengthened to provide adequate benefits and that it is sufficiently financed to ensure solvency with a stable trust fund for the next 75 years. It has also been a long held position that any changes would be phased in slowly, over time, and would not affect any current or near term beneficiaries

So because AARP wants to be a part of the negotiations that have already been going on without them, Jane has begun her campaign of lies to slander the organization, for what reason, I have no idea. I think her vitriol speaks for itself, really. This tweet is just crazy, “As AARP Abandons Social Security, Firedoglake Refuses to Give Up the Fight”. As you can see from the actual statement from the AARP, the last thing they are doing is abandoning Social Security and the fact that Jane would type that massive lie shows the type of person she is, the very worst kind of propagandist, playing on the fears of the elderly.

Another gem from Jane, “Save Social Security, burn your AARP card:”. She thinks that by burning their AARP cards, that they are going to somehow benefit from it? AARP is the most powerful lobbying group in the country by many accounts and as their website says all over it, they are committed to the program and are going to continue to fight for the people they represent. Jane’s blatant mischaracterization of their position as “abandoning” social security, when their entire mission revolves around strengthening such programs for the people they represent, is a complete fabrication. I’m still trying to figure out why Jane has taken this tact.

My hope is that she continues her downward spiral into irrelevancy and keeps revealing the type of vile person she is. I have written extensively about her because I truly think she is a parasite on the liberal community and is damaging our causes by her actions. I wonder if her reason isn’t to try to drive a wedge between the left (which MSNBC likes to trot Jane out to represent) and the AARP. Her attack on the AARP and senior citizens makes absolutely no sense, unless it is for political reasons. And lastly, I’m sure the fact that the CEO of AARP is black has nothing to do with it, at least I really hope it doesn’t, but with Jane’s “blackface incident” from years ago, I’m not cutting her any slack.

Roll Call is reporting that the GOP has now targeted the AARP as the next supposed “liberal” group that they want to take down. They are some stupid motherfuckers, if you ask me. Hell yea, us Democrats will take the senior vote anyday. Thanks. But it raises an interesting point that Jane Hamsher and the Republicans are very coincidently targeting the same group at the same time. Hmmmmm, From Roll Call…

Republicans have launched an assault on AARP, which joins a growing list of groups supportive of the Democrats’ agenda that are being targeted by conservatives.

House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday released a report that accuses the influential senior citizens organization of having a conflict of interest because it will financially benefit from the health care overhaul that the group heavily lobbied for last year. AARP collects royalties from endorsing health insurance policies and other products.

I’m so fucking sick of seeing the media use the “critics on the _____ say this” as a basis for a segment on a show or stupid blog post/column. In our over saturated media universe, you can’t throw a rock without hitting one of these stories. That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Every issue there is can be framed with the “critics say” structure and the “two sides to every story” cop-out. Finding a critic isn’t hard, especially when you have professional critics on speed dial at the cable networks. Since when did every issue have a valid argument on each side, some things are just as they are. When are journalists going to attempt to get at the truth and operate in the real world, instead of some projection of public opinion polls and conventional wisdom? I saw just this morning a poll about public opinions on the constitution, should it be interpreted strictly or not and other similar questions. Remember, the people answering these polls can’t even name our vice president or tell you what year the constitution was adopted, but you want to ask them how it should be implemented. What The Fuck. I don’t give a flying fuck what the ignorant asshole driving the monster truck and flying a confederate flag thinks about the constitution. I don’t even want that asshole thinking about it, to be honest.

A free press is one institution that was seen as important enough to be included in the constitution. I don’t think our founding fathers foresaw a “free” press being owned by huge mega corporations with the power of their money, ownership of the airwaves and even the power to effect economies. The “free” press is no more, with the exception of us non-paid bloggers and a few real journalists that still exist. Beyond that, turn on any one of the 3 major cable networks and watch the absolute slant towards anti-government and pro-business. And now with the “Citizen’s United” decision by the Supreme Court, they have even more direct control over our politicians. They now can destroy any candidate they want and smile while they’re doing it. It may be the reason why Republicans think they can get away with all the crap they are doing…because they can. Our cable media is completely fucked.

For the record, I didn’t support either the Afghanistan or Iraqi Wars and still don’t “support” any war. They are against what I believe in, peace, love and understanding. But I also live in reality and realize that once we’ve created a mess, we can’t just walk away without at least attempting to clean it up. At this point, I feel like I need to remind anyone on the right or left who was sleeping during the Bush Administration that President Bush started those two foolish ventures, NOT President Obama. It’s unfortunate that I have to remind people of that, but with so much revisionist history and subtle meme generation going on, I feel it’s necessary.

The head-in-the-sand critics on the left who seem to blame President Obama for everything, whether he was responsible or not (DADT), seem to think he should have just packed up all the troops on January 21, 2009 and brought them home, leaving much bigger messes for those two countries than when we invaded their world. The callousness of that thinking is astounding, really. How can these people really justify abandoning these countries that we ripped apart. Regardless of whether you were for ripping them apart or not, we couldn’t just leave them in the rubble. Part of me wishes that he had done just that, but the responsible part of me knows that we can’t just bomb the shit out of a country and then high tail it out of town. My preference, of course, was that we never go in to begin with.

I’ll post, once again, the speech by President Obama where he said what he was going to do as a candidate. It is for those on the left who have convinced themselves that he broke some promise when he ramped up the actions in Afghanistan. Isn’t it great that we have Youtube and Google so we can remember what he actually said, instead of the revisionist history so many use to their benefit.

The reason President Obama shows his strength and leadership with this decision is because unlike the Republicans who see any sort of winding down of a war as “losing”, this President has the confidence and maturity to know that “winning or losing” a war isn’t cut and dry. Especially when the enemy is some amorphous “ism” that can’t be identified at all. It is a concept, not an enemy, so it allows the Republicans who love to feed the military industrial complex with new wars, a way of having perpetual wars. Already this morning, I saw Sen. Cornyn on MSNBC wetting himself because we are actually doing what Republicans can’t seem to do, get the hell out of a war zone. He also spewed the nonsense that I’m sure the media will take and run with, that the President doesn’t have a plan. Give me a freakin break, the military loves them some plans, they draw up plans for imaginary wars, do they really think that we don’t have a plan? It’s a freaking propaganda game he is playing, he’s probably seen the plan himself.

So once again, our very qualified, measured, intelligent president has stepped up to the plate and made the tough decisions that a President of all the people has to make. He didn’t start those wars, but he sure as hell is going to end them in a responsible way. Bravo Mr. President for being the strong leader that you are and dealing with a mess that was handed to you.

My apologies, but I’m on a deadline for a project and have a lot of other stuff going on in my personal and professional life so this is basically a “link dump post”. The following is some good stuff I’ve come across in the last couple of days. I have lots of things going through my head that I want to write about and will, but for this morning, enjoy the following great reads.

I’ve been thinking for quite a while that there are things that the President can do to overcome the Republicans obstructing all his appointees for cabinet and government positions as well as judicial. Turns out, he can overcome their game playing of not going into recess, preventing him from making recess appointments. Now if he will just do it.

In reading Twitter and the blogs, there is so much craziness coming from the Hamsher/Choi/Greenwald gang about a primary to President Obama and other complete horseshit. I decided I needed to read Tien’s piece from The People’s View…one more time, to remind me what we are dealing with.

This story pisses me off to no ends. After 8 years of Bush/Cheney madness and exertion of executive power, trampling on rights, starting two wars, gutting regulations, stomping on the most needy and basically running roughshod on our democracy, now they are attempting to bring down our republic. The Bush administration ran up all sorts of debt, lost billions in Iraq (pallets of money), bailed out the unregulated banks and caused millions of jobs to be lost as they handed the keys to the new administration. Thanks for nothing, right.

Not only did they spend money like drunken sailors (no offense to sailors intended), but after handing the keys to President Barack Obama, they all of a sudden decided that it’s his problem to pay for all their drunken spending. They successfully shifted the blame to the new guy, with the very willing help of the media and over the last 2.5 years, they have thwarted or tried to thwart every single solution that the Obama administration has attempted. Not only by opposing him and not giving in a single bit, using constant ultimatums, non-negotiable items and also doing complete 180’s on previously stated positions, but they are also bending and breaking every rule and precedent they can to stop any progress at all. . Hypocrisy has been raised to virtue status within the GOP. They seem to wear their hypocrisy on their sleeves now, proud that they opposed the president, even when it hurts their constituents.

Very few in the media are reporting this story. Sure, we get a piece here and there about their tactics, but for the most part, the media has been letting them get away with completely ruining our government and setting a new precedent that they would scream bloody murder about if the Democrats were to ever do it. Oh, lawd, how they would scream. Steve Benen of The Washington Monthly is a real journalist and has a great post about this subject…

The Constitution, for example, gives the executive the authority to make recess appointments, and dozens of House Republicans are eager to ensure Obama cannot exercise that authority.

The vast majority of freshman Republicans have told House GOP leaders they should block President Obama from making any future recess appointments.

In a letter sent to Republican leaders Thursday, a group of 77 freshman asked them to take any steps necessary to stifle the chance for recess appointments, including blocking any more recesses for the entirety of the 112th Congress.

“As freshmen, we came to the House of Representatives on a wave of public discontent with the lack of transparency in Washington,” the letter stated. “The next logical step in our efforts to restore the public’s trust in their government is to prevent further recess appointments.”

Why recess appointments have been fine for centuries, but now must be considered moves that undermine “the public’s trust,” is unclear.

Why aren’t we hearing about this from major media outlets? Why aren’t they hammering this story, but have hours and hours to devote to Anthony Weiner or the Casey Anthony trial Do you think if the Democrats had done this to Bush that the media would sit there silently? This is just one small example of what they are doing. It is un-American and makes us look like a third world country, WTF. Steve Benen sums up what has been going on like no one else can…

What I find remarkable about all of this is comparing the seriousness of the times and the severity of the GOP’s restrictions. In effect, President Obama is being told, “You have to fix the economy, win several wars, fix the housing crisis, respond to disasters, improve American energy policy, and keep the country safe, all while being fiscally responsible. But you can’t have a full team in place; you can’t enjoy the same powers your predecessors did; you can’t use the same tools your predecessors used; and you can’t expect the Senate to function by majority rule the way it used to. Good luck.”

As many of you might have noticed, I haven’t been helping the firebagger organizers of Netroots Nation 2011 spread their anti-Obama bullshit. They purposely try to goad us real liberals into writing about them, they will take attention whether positive or negative. I’m sure you’ve read the many slanted stories from the compliant media about how NN11 has turned on the President. It’s funny how reality is so much different than what Jane Hamsher and John Aravosis would want you to believe. From Roll Call…

A straw poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research showed that 80 percent either approve or strongly approve of the president more than a year before voters head to the polls to decide whether he deserves a second term. The results broke down to 27 percent strongly approving of Obama and 53 percent approving “somewhat.” Thirteen percent said they “somewhat disapprove,” and 7 percent strongly disapprove of the president.

And I have to point out that the organizers of the conference are almost all anti-Obama in one way or another. Whether it’s about the wars the President was handed or the financial mess or the fact that Republicans are actually in our government and have the power to force the administration to compromise, these naive, petty folks are more concerned about their own egos than helping pass progressive legislation. Those approval numbers are even more impressive when you consider that this is supposed to be a disgruntled crowd. The President’s approval among Democrats nationwide goes into the high 80’s.

So I’m encouraged that the attendees of Netroots Nation 2011 support the President and progressive causes. I’ve thought for a long time that the haters like Hamsher, Greenwald and Aravosis do not represent a very large segment of the electorate. If you can stand to read the comments at their blogs, you’ll see a majority of Republican trolls, who seem to be their main readership these days. Is it any wonder they continue their trashing, they have to feed their right-wing readers. In case you were wondering what blogs tell it like it is, check out my “Blogs I love” to the right, those folks rock.

Who The Hell Am I!

I’m a liberal that is extreme in some ways and not in others. I support President Obama and make no apologies for it. I think he has done a phenomenal job, especially when you consider that he inherited a huge mess and has faced unprecedented opposition from a lazy & desperate Republican Party. I’m a film producer/director/editor, adjunct professor, technician, media critic and photographer when I’m not reading left wing blogs and typing on this one. – On Twitter @ExtremeLiberal or Email at liberalforreal (at) gmail.com

Own An Important Part Of American History!

Cicely Tyson narrates this award winning documentary that tells the story of African American migration from the old south to the prosperous north. Winner of 5 Awards including "Best Film" at the Astoria International Film Festival, the "Paul Robeson Award" at the Newark Black Film Festival and "Best Film Relating To The Black Experience" at the XXV International Black Cinema Berlin/Germany!